Moving Picture World (Nov-Dec 1927)

.December 24, 1927 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 3i Walter McDowell Produces a Nice Att Type Ad Crazy Quilt Style is not Commendable Display You have no difficulty in getting the idea that Lon Chaney is to be seen in Mockery at the Valentine Theatre, Toledo, but if you get the idea that it must be good, it is because you know Chaney and not because you are impressed by this rather large display; a three tens. “ ^ — — — dtOW PUKING/ 2ontinuouslkM. 11p.m. Sundew 1-11 pm. NOT WELL DONE Sometimes the Valentine turns out an advertisement that is something to rejoice over, but it is just as apt to go to the other extreme and turn out something remarkably poor. You can figure this one for yourself, remembering that in a reduced size the hand lettering does not look as sprawling as it does in the original six inch width. The artist seems to have’ lettered in the star and title and then have gone over the space to fill in every possible chink. Apparently he thinks white space a crime, for he has left none in his design. The only thing he has done has been to make the letters small, so that the star and title do come through. Even the signature is mussed up, but to paraphrase the Lon Chaney gag, if the Toledo reader sees something he can’t quite make out, he figures it’s the Valentine. This space belongs in the chamber of horrors. Unusually Good Disply For Baltimore Theatre The Baltimore Sun has one of the best displayed theatre ad pages in the country, but of course it can do only what the theatres require, and cannot dictate style. It can only do the best it can with what is given. One trouble with Baltimore is that they mostly run to the same style of layout in which the space is deeper than it is wide. For this rea son the Century Theatre’s space on The Fair Co-Ed is given unusual prominence through shape. It is a four and a half over four columns, no more expensive than a three sixes, but better because it is different. With the cut taking a little more than a column of the width, there is still room for an excellent type display, in which a minimum of hand lettering gives a maximum of result. There is only one selling line, “collegiate, right down to the last rolled stocking,” but that is a real seller, and the reference to George Ade tells the rest. Most of the space is given the supporting show, and this is thrown across the space in a triple column with a couple of over-all lines to break the monotony. It’s good typesetting even for Baltimore, and we’ll back Baltimore against the field most of the time. This Simple Design Is Very Effective Layout Walter McDowell sends in a very effective display for the Strand Theatre, Syracuse, that uses only a little more than a two threes. It can be done with straight rule work and will give better results than a large space less cleverly planned. We think that Mr. McDowell is getting in Cliff Lewis’ class in the matter of layout. A NEAT LAYOUT The chief element of value in this layout is the fact that having a small space, Mr. McDowell does not try to make up for the smallness of the space with the bigness of his letters. Instead of emphasizing the lack of size by crowding in the largest possible type faces, he holds the letters down to a size that looks large in the space in which they appear. Just let that sink in. They look large in the space in which they appear. Use that same letter in five tens and it would look small and unimportant, but in a net space of less than three by four inches, this twelve point letter looks larger than an eighteen would. If you can teach your own compositors that elemental idea in display, you can save money in your spaces and still get the same display. There is only one break, and this merely emphasizes the rule. That “Now you can see it”, is too large for the rest. It should have been held down by at least six points, for as it stands is overshadows the star and play. For a little while McDowell was worshiping strange gods and packing his spaces too full. We are glad to see him get back to his own good stride. This Humorous Design Should Prove a Seller We don’t know that Laura La Plante climbs down a ladder in Silk Stockings, but we do know that the ladder sketch used on All the World Loves I a Lover . . . Except . . . it, r, HI* Wife When He Comes Home With L?-'' -SILK STOCKINGSIn His Pockets! TjGGCtS with rt Ot a Whimsical comedy fresh and as invigorating AS THE OCEAN BREEZES AND TWICE AS BREEZY I She got a divorce and didn't know what to do with it! Then shetook it back and traded it for a marriage license! this title by the New Theatre, Baltimore, and evidently taken from the press book, will sell more tickets than the type explanation that the silk stockings are found in the pocket of a married man. :W(S AN O UNITED ARTISTS Lexington St,., West of Charles — Continuous 11 to 11 Beginning Monday, October 24 MARION DAVIES "THB FASF^ COi (JOHN MACKO BFtOWN Collegiate! Right Pown to the Last Rolled Stocking From the story by Geo. Ade. A Sam Wood Production. A MetroGoldwyn-Mayer Picture. A COLORFUL COLLEGIATE K£VUE OM THE CENTURY STAGE [ TOMMY CHRISTIAN AND HIS COLLEGIATE ORCHESTRA THE PONCE SISTERS EIGHT CO-EDS CARDELL TWINS Song Birds of the Campus in Student Struts Sorority Steppers BURNS & FORAN in THEIR FAMOUS FOOTBALL DANCE HAROLD RAMSAY A SURROUNDING PRO GEO. WILD Conducting ot the Wurlitzer * GRAM of SPECIALTIES Century Grand Orchestr A NICELY SET DISPLAY IN A SHAPELY DIMENSION